Universe 4.0 Takes High-End 3D Under $1,000

Preorders start now
By Dave Nagel

3D developers were the first to embrace OS X en masse, some of them releasing OS X version of their applications before OS X was even in full release itself. And now long-time Mac developer Electric Image iis not only releasing its second-generation OS X-native 3D suite, but also bringing down the price point as well. Universe 4.0, which is now available for preorder and is expected to ship in January, will be priced at $995.

This is not an introductory price, nor is it an upgrade price. Users of previous versions of EI software will be able to keep and use their keys on their previous version. (In other words, the price does not require users to trade in their old keys.)

Universe 4.0 brings several significant enhancements to the 3D modeling, animation and rendering suite. Among these is a a performance boost that drops render times by 20 percent, lower memory requirements and enhanced OpenGL in Modeler and Animator. Other new features include:

Character skinning system

New constraint system

Global illumination

Motion blur preview

Interface tweaks

Several enhancements to Modeler, including interruptible operations, a NURBS Surface Reduce Knots tool and others.